The Closet
by ryu crisis
Summary: Every single time Sakura's father gets out of controle, Sakura's mother makes her hide in the closet. When everything gets to be too much who does she turn to? Sightly AUish Rated K for some content


**Disclamer**: I own nothing...sadly

**A/N**: This is a little on shot that got stuck in my head so I wrote it down. Enjoy!

**The Closet**

Sitting in the hallway closet with her dog Neiko, Sakura waits silently for all hell to break loose. Every single time her father goes on a drinking binge, he comes home wasted looking to take his frustrations out on her. Her mother took to hiding her in the hallway closet, while she waited for Sakura's father to get home. Sakura's mother would always take the brunt of her father's 'interrogations', while Sakura stayed safe in the hallway closet. Just thinking about it brought tears to Sakura's eyes; it wasn't fair that her mother was taking beatings that were meant for her.

_When did things get so bad?_

_**When you decided to become a Shinobi that's when…**_

When the front door swung open and she heard her father's booming voice, she braced herself for a long, long night. Clutching Neiko closer, Sakura gently rubs her already tear stained face into Neiko's soft fur hoping to calm herself down and block everything out.

Originally, Sakura was given Neiko as a birthday present from her mother when she and Ino quit being friends because of Sasuke so she'd have a companion to talk to even if he was just a dog. Soon Neiko became her confidante, he was the only one who knew all of her deepest, darkest secrets and how afraid she really was. Sakura was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of braking glass.

BANG!

_There goes another dish…_

BANG!

_That sounded more like my fathers fist hitting the wall at least I hope it was the wall…_

Everything went silent for a minute, before the screaming started

BANG!

_There goes my father's angry fist again…I wonder what he broke this time?_

Cuddling closer to Neiko, Sakura closes her sore, tired eyes and starts thinking about what made things this way. Truth be told, her main reason for becoming a Shinobi was because of Sasuke but there was another one that nobody knew about. Sakura's father had always been old fashioned, thinking that wives/women were only put on this earth to please men. Both Sakura and her mother thought differently, so Sakura's mother agreed to let her become a Shinobi if only to prove to her father that he was indeed being a sexist pig and it worked, a little too well. When Sakura came home from the graduation ceremony at the academy instead of being welcomed warmly, she was welcomed with her father's fist. Ever since then when her father comes home wasted, her mother makes her hide in the closet because it's the only place her father doesn't look.

Slowly, the screaming and banging became quieter as Sakura drifted into a fitful sleep

Hours later, Sakura started to stir trying to swat Neiko away from licking the inside of her ear and waking her up. Yawning, she made a cat-like stretch and looked around at her surroundings. Eyes widening ever so slightly, she realizes that she just spent another night in the closet. Looking at her watch, she paled considerably and started frantically trying un-tangle herself form her quilt the she left in there last time she was there.

"Fuck! I'm late for training again! Kakashi's going to kill me!" The pink haired kunoichi hissed to herself

Quietly opening the closet door, Sakura silently makes her way to the bathroom. Sakura looks at herself in the mirror and shakes her pink head. There are black circles under her eyes and her hair is standing on end everywhere. Moving quickly, she brushes her teeth and runs a brush through her hair. Not bothering to change her clothes from yesterday, Sakura silently made her way down the stairs not knowing what she would find. Looking around her kitchen, she finds broken glasses everywhere, pieces of bloody scalp and hair, bloody hand prints on the wall and a small pool of blood on the floor.

Sakura sighed sadly

_When will this insanity stop?_

Making her way to the back door, Sakura lets Neiko out to do his business and other things, while she goes to check on her poor mother. Entering the living room, Sakura finds her mother sleeping face down on the floor. Carefully, Sakura lifts her up the best that she can and puts her on the couch and covers her with a blanket she finds on the floor that was supposed to be on the couch anyway. Sakura gently shakes her mother to get her to wake up.

Groaning, Sakura's mother opened one eye, then the other and looked at her daughter

"Mama, I have to go now because I'm really late for training, I'll leave Neiko to look after you okay?" She told her mother softly

"Okay sweet pea, you go and have fun now"

"Yes, mama I'll be back later" She replied softly before getting up to let Neiko back in the house again

With one last smile at her daughter, Sakura's mother went right back to sleep again

_This completely wrong, I'm going tell someone today before something really horrible happens…_

Walking out the front door and locking it behind her, Sakura makes a beeline for the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge, Sakura notices Naruto and Sasuke but no Baka-Sensei. Immense relief washing over her, Sakura slows to a normal pace and walks the rest of the way to the bridge.

Naruto noticed her first unfortunately, he started waving his arms wildly and calling her name loudly "SAKURA-CHANNNN!"

Sasuke just "hn'd" as his greeting

"Where have you been Sakura-Chan? We've been waiting for you for a half an hour now and you're usually the first one here" Naruto asked loudly

"Look, Naruto I slept late it doesn't matter" Sakura lied and snapped angrily at the same time

Both boys looked considerably shocked and took a step back at Sakura's sudden outrage

Sakura let out a long sigh

"Look, I've seriously stressed out lately and I shouldn't be taking it out on you guys I'm sorry" She apologized

Naruto grinned and pulled a ridiculous pose to make her feel better "Hey, don't worry about it we understand"

Sasuke just nodded

Sakura smiled at Naruto's antics, they always made her feel better

_This horribly long day may have just gotten better…_

"Hey have guys have you seen Kakashi-Sensei yet?" The pink haired kunoichi asked curiously

They both shook their heads

_Figures he'd be two hours late_

Sakura turned around and came face to chest with a green jounin vest. Jumping about five feet in the air, she clutched her racing heart and sent Kakashi a glare that should have fried him extra crispy. Sakura heard the boys laughing the background but she chose to ignore it and concentrated her anger on Kakashi instead.

"What in the hell was that for Kakashi-sensei? You almost gave me a massive coronary!" She yelled angrily

Shrugging his shoulders lazily, Kakashi dumped the bag of training targets that he was carrying on the ground and motioned for us to come closer.

"Today, Class we will be doing target practice" He said lazily

Sakura let out a groan, she was never good at hitting targets

"You will place your targets in various places in the forest and once you've every single one of them at least once you my go" He continued lazily

"Begin" He said dismissing us

Taking one last look at Kakashi jumping to a near by branch to read his precious book, Sakura shook her pink head in disbelief and walked over the bag of targets.

_And to think I was going to ask that bastard for his help _

Inner Sakura gave Sakura a glare to match the one she gave Kakashi earlier

_Alright okay I'll still ask for his help_

_**Thank-you**_

_Yeah, right whatever_

After picking up the required number of targets, Sakura retreated into a clearing that she thought was far enough from everybody else. Sakura began to put the targets up blindly, not really caring where they ended up. Once finished, she picked up her kunai and got ready to throw. Before she started, she took a good look at the targets and started picturing her father's head on them.

She smiled to herself and threw the first one

TUNK!

_That's for being an ass all of the time_

TUNK!

_That's for making my life a living hell_

TUNK!

_That's for hurting my mother_

TUNK!

_That's for taking away my innocence _

TUNK!

_That's for not being there when I needed you_

Suddenly, Sakura was jack-hammered out of her thoughts by Naruto's loud voice. Looking up to see what Naruto was yelling about, Sakura notices the form of a dog in the clearing and immediately dropped everything. Intent on getting a better look at the dog, she ran over to where Naruto was standing. Once there, she squinted for a moment before her jade eyes widened in fear.

It was Neiko

The dog came bounding up to Sakura and started pawing her and she instantly thought the worst

_Did my father come home early?_

By now, both Kakashi and Sasuke came to find us wondering what all of the commotion was about

"Wow Sakura, is this you're dog?" Naruto asked curiously

Sakura rolled her eyes "Yes, Naruto"

Sakura decided that it now or never that she told them so she picked now

She cleared her throat nervously

"Um…you guys I have something to tell you and I will only tell you this once so listen up" She sputtered nervously

They looked at her attentively

"Ever since I became a shinobi my father changed, he started to drink heavily and he started to hit me and my mother. It was supposed to be just me but my mother wanted to protect me so she started to hide me in the hallway closet. Last night he almost killed her and now I know I need help to make it stop." She finished barely above a whisper

They all gaped at her for a good two minutes before Kakashi regained enough of his composure to respond

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" He ground out a little harsher then entended

Sakura's jade eyes widened an filled with tears "I-I'm sorry"

Kakashi ran a hand over his masked face

Sasuke and Naruto continued to gape at her in complete shock

"Sakura you do realize that no matter what you say we have to go to Hokage about this right?" He asked sternly

Sakura nodded her head sadly

"That's fine but first we have to go and check on my mother first" She said barely above a whisper

They all nodded and began to follow Sakura to her house. Minutes later, she stopped in front of a little blue house and put the key in the front door. Opening the door slowly, she looked around and was immensely relieved to find that her father was not there. She looked over to her team mates to gauge there reactions and it was safe to say that they looked considerably appalled at Sakura's living conditions.

"This is where you live?" Sasuke asked with no hardness in his voice whatsoever

She nodded sadly

Naruto still hadn't said a thing

Sakura saw Neiko turn the corner and went to follow him. She let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw her mother sleeping peacefully on couch.

She quietly went over to her mother to shake her awake

"Mama wake up, I'm back and I brought my team mates" She whispered softly

Sakura watched her mother wake up and smile at her

It was killing her to see her mother this way

"Hello sweet pea, did you have a good day?" She asked smiling weakly

Sakura nodded

"Mama, we are going to talk to the Hokage about this. Is that okay?"

Sakura's mother knew it was for the best and nodded weakly

"Hey Sasuke, do you think you can watch my mother while we go talk to the Hokage?"

Sasuke nodded

"Thank-you so much"

Sasuke nodded again

Sakura led Kakashi and Naruto back out of the house, while Sasuke kept an eye her mother and began to clean up what he could. Sakura walked with Naruto and Kakashi to the Hokage's office in complete silence. Sakura entered with her head held high, she knew that she was going to get through this because she had Naruto and Kakashi with her.

Sakura waited patiently to be seen by the Hokage

She let out a small shaky sigh

"It will be okay now Sakura, you'll see" Naruto said as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder

The Hokage's assistant finally called Sakura in

It was the moment of truth

She walked in and Naruto took a seat beside her while Kakashi leant lazily against the door frame

"Yes, Sakura?" Tsunade-sama asked tiredly

"Tsunade-sama, I need to tell you something important" She sputtered nervously

"Go on" Was all that she said

"Ever since I became a shinobi my father has started drinking and he abuses me and my mother. It was supposed to be me but my mother didn't want me to get hurt so she made me go in the closet and she took the beatings" She said hanging her head in shame

Tsunade-sama's eyes almost bulged out of her head in shock

Sakura let out a relieved sigh, happy to have gotten that off her shoulders

"Why didn't you say anything before" She asked still in shock

"I was ashamed" She said truthfully

Tsunade-sama nodded

"Well we'll have to get you and you're mother out of that house" She replied going into work mode

Kakashi opened his masked mouth to say something but was interrupted when Sasuke came plowing through the door with Sakura's mother in his arms.

Sakura's jade eyes widened in shock

"I had to get out of there, Sakura's father got back and he was royally pissed" He said in between breaths

Tsunade-sama nodded in understanding

Tsunade-sama motioned us to follow her to an examination room. Sasuke gently put Sakura's mother on the exam table, Tsunade-sama motioned for the boys to leave and she examined her.

"Well it seems that she will be fine but she will need to spend a few months in the hospital to recover from all of the beatings" She said relieved

I nodded now a lot happier

Tsunade-sama was about to call the boys back in to talk about Sakura's living arrangements, when a commotion broke out in the hallway and both Tsunade-sama and Sakura ran out into the hallway to see what was going on. What Sakura saw made her heart stop momentarily, Naruto and Sasuke were struggling to hold back her angry father.

He saw her and she knew that she was done for

"Why you stupid little whore, you'll finally get what you deserve!" He yelled angrily

He broke free and ran straight toward Sakura

She seemed to accept her fate and didn't move

Time seemed to stand still as Kakashi stepped in front of her and stopped him with a single well-aimed blow to the head

"Come near her again or her mother and I will kill you" He said dangerously low

Still in complete shock Sakura said nothing

Sighing, Tsunade-sama called two medic nins to take the unconscious man off the floor. Getting back down to business, she immediately went back to task of finding a place for Sakura to stay while her mother recovered and her father went to got the help that he needed.

Tsunade-sama cleared her throat and spoke

"There is still the matter of finding Sakura a place to stay until her mother has fully recovered"

Kakashi opened his masked mouth to speak again

"She can stay with me" He muttered quietly

Tsunade-sama's eyebrows rose in shock

"Uh…well okay, if that's okay with you Sakura" She said uncertainly

"Yes, that's fine" Sakura managed to squeak out

Anywhere was better that where she came from and she knew this

Sakura and Kakashi went back to her place to pick up her dog and the necessary things that she need before going straight to Kakashi's place. Needless to say she was happy to be away from that house and the closet that haunted her dreams every night. For the first time that she could remember, she didn't hear screaming in her sleep and she didn't wake up in the closet.

She was happy

She was finally free of the closet

The End


End file.
